The wine sommelier had taken a bus since pharmacies in her neighborhood don’t sell the drug, but a pharmacy employee told her to come back the next day.

“I work, I can’t come here every day,” she complained. “Today, I’ll have to buy from an illegal dealer. I have no choice. This system is crap. It’s useless!”

Marijuana went on sale in Uruguay last year under a 2013 law that made it the first nation to legalize a pot market covering the entire chain from plants to purchase. But the country is still working out how to meet demand in its effort to undercut drug traffickers who control the black market.

“The demand is greater than our productive capacity,” the head of Uruguay’s National Drugs Council, Diego Olivera, said. “We have to address that challenge.”

It’s exactly the opposite of the problem facing some U.S. states that have legalized marijuana — an oversupply. Oregon and California have such a glut that sellers are slashing prices.

In Uruguay, even finding legal marijuana can be a chore, as Andrade discovered. The law lets registered users buy as much as 40 grams of marijuana a month at participating pharmacies. But only 14 of the country’s estimated 1,200 pharmacies have signed up to sell marijuana. Many balked at the idea of selling the drug, or due to low profit margins or fear of being robbed.

The law also allows the growing of pot by licensed individuals and the formation of growers and users clubs.

Olivera estimates 20 to 25 metric tons of marijuana are consumed annually between the legal and black market, and academic studies say the figure could be as high as 30 metric tons. That’s about three times what the legal system could now provide at full capacity, and officials say it’s actually been producing less.

Two companies are licensed to produce a total of 4 tons combined for sale to pharmacies, but officials say they only recently began meeting that target. Olivera said officials are considering granting more licenses.

“There was no experience with farming on a large scale and it took a while to finally nail the technology, the workforce and the drying process,” Olivera said.

An estimated 147,000 Uruguayans between the ages of 18 and 65 consume marijuana, with about a third of them using it weekly